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September 19, 2012

FTC Publishes a Guide to ‘Marketing Your Mobile App’

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) added some clarity to the
law of privacy in mobile apps last week, when it published a guide
titled “Marketing
Your Mobile App: Get It Right from the
Start.” Since the FTC’s
enforcement power over online privacy comes primarily from the ambiguous
“unfair or deceptive acts or practices” clause in § 5(a) of the FTC Act, any
guidance on what the FTC considers “unfair or deceptive” should not be
ignored. The guide stresses that mobile
app developers should design their apps from the ground up with privacy in
mind.

The
FTC included seven guidelines regarding privacy:

Build privacy considerations in from
the start.

Be transparent about your data
practices.

Offer choices that are easy to find
and easy to use.

Honor your privacy promises to
consumers by following your own privacy policy, and obtaining affirmative
consent if the privacy policy materially changes.

Protect children’s privacy.

Collect sensitive information only
with consent.

Keep user data secure by: (1) collecting only the information you need;
(2) securing the data you keep by taking reasonable precautions against
well-known security risks; (3) limiting access to a need-to-know basis; and (3)
safely disposing of data when you no longer need it.

The FTC also included two guidelines regarding truth in
advertising:

Tell the truth about what your app can do. For example, any advertising about your app
cannot be false or misleading, and objective claims must be backed up by
evidence.

Disclose key information clearly and
conspicuously. For example, important
terms should not be buried in licensing agreements, or behind vague
hyperlinks. Key disclosures should be
made up front.